Hydroponics’ advantage over soil lies in its direct delivery of nutrients directly to plant roots with little loss to evaporation; this conserves water while decreasing irrigation requirements.
Roots can focus their energy on photosynthesis and growth without expending extra energy searching for nutrients in the soil, leading to faster and healthier crop development.
Water
Water is the foundation of hydroponics, dissolving and transporting nutrients for plants. To maximize growth, the ideal growing medium should be fresh, clean and well filtered with an ideal pH level between 6-6.5 for optimal growth. Most growers prefer rainwater; bottled or tap water through an RO (reverse osmosis) filter system can also work as alternatives. It is highly recommended that hydroponic water be regularly tested to ensure it contains no heavy metals or carcinogens and that its EC and pH levels fall within optimal ranges for optimal plant growth.
Commercial hydroponically produced vegetables include leaf lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, watercress and herbs. Hydroponic crops get their essential nutrients through a nutrient solution mixed in with their growing water, unlike soil-based crops which obtain their vitamins directly from soil.
Hydroponic setups must provide enough oxygen for plant roots by maintaining either a constant or steady flow of water to ensure optimal root development. If this is not achieved, hydroponic plants could easily become diseased and eventually die off; additionally, flowing water keeps nutrient solutions oxygenated – contributing to rapid plant growth.
Hydroponic systems come in various configurations. One popular choice is known as the “wick system,” in which a long strand of material such as cotton thread or rope is stretched between a reservoir and plant tray to receive water and nutrients from both sources; then pulled up through its root system into the plant tray by roots from roots. Water then drains back down through this wick to return back into its reservoir; making this method inexpensive without needing an expensive water pump system.
Hydroponics’ “ebb and flow” or flood and drain system uses a large reservoir that contains nutrient/water solution. A tray containing growing medium is periodically submerged in this mixture before draining; thus recharging all trays with fresh nutrients/water solutions at regular intervals throughout the day, creating an efficient method for feeding plants with essential nutrition.
Nutrients
Hydroponic cultivation ensures your plants receive all of the essential nutrients for survival and growth, unlike soil-grown ones which depend on organic matter for nutrients. Hydroponic plants instead absorb their essential vitamins directly from nutrient solutions mixed into the water – such as nitrogen (in the form of nitrates), phosphorus, potassium and magnesium which all play vital roles in plant development.
To ensure your plants have access to all the nutrients in a nutrient solution, it is crucial that you manage its pH level. pH measures the concentration of hydrogen ions present, and plays an integral role in making nutrients available to plants for uptake. An ideal range for pH in nutrient solutions would be between 5.5-6.5; most tap or well water has too high of a pH value and requires additional help in form of a pH regulator to bring down to an appropriate range.
Given the significance of pH levels, it’s vital that you understand how to test and adjust them correctly. You can purchase a simple kit which includes both a testing meter and special reagents for this task.
Finding an optimal ratio of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and other essential nutrients is vital to hydroponic success. These essential elements provide energy needed for growth as well as vitamins, amino acids and other substances essential to human wellbeing.
Hydroponics may seem artificial, but many plants’ roots grow naturally in water. One of the seven Wonders of Ancient World, Babylon’s Hanging Gardens were an example of hydroponics used by people to grow vegetables and herbs without soil.
An ebb and flow hydroponic system works on its simplest level by flooding a growing tray with nutrients from a reservoir below, then slowly draining them back out again into that reservoir. Other systems, like drip systems, are more complicated and mostly used commercially.
Growing Media
Hydroponics requires more than just reaching your plants roots – both the growing medium and its nutrients need to reach them as well. Growing media acts like a pantry for your plants’ water and nutrients and must have a porous structure so that the nutrient solution can penetrate it easily. In an extremely simple wick system this could consist of some clay pellets or pebbles while more sophisticated setups incorporate delivery pumps, timers, irrigation tubing and irrigation tubing which deliver solutions at regular intervals depending on key factors like plant size, growth stage climate conductivity pH content moisture content and substrate conductivity to deliver essential elements to ensure success with all systems.
Grow media can be made of almost any inert material; however, some may work better depending on the type of hydroponic system you are using. For instance, using rock wool as part of a deep water culture setup requires making sure it doesn’t become saturated with too much moisture, otherwise root rot may set in.
Expanded clay pellets, also known as LECA (lightweight expanded clay aggregate) are an ideal hydroponic growing medium. Made by heating and expanding some type of clay into tiny round balls of marble-sized size, LECAs offer an efficient water to oxygen ratio while being inexpensive, easy to sterilize, and reusable.
Other popular hydroponic growing mediums include lava rocks, pumice and perlite. All three options are readily available and easy to sterilize, as they absorb nutrients efficiently. Each has their own set of benefits and drawbacks; lava rocks or pumice may serve you well until you gain experience in hydroponics.
Sand can also serve as a grow medium, though you must take extra caution not to allow it to become saturated with water or soggy. Sand doesn’t drain well and can jam pumps, leaving dust particles floating around the room and possibly killing plants in their wake if their system relies solely on pumps for their irrigation.
Lighting
Hydroponics is a method for cultivating plants in non-soil mediums such as gravel, sand, coco peat or wool without soil. A self-contained system delivers all three essential elements necessary for plant life: water, light and oxygen. Soil was previously needed to absorb and retain these essential elements; but now there is no longer need for its retention in hydroponics cultivation methods.
Hydroponic plants tend to be more vibrant and quickly reaching maturity than their conventionally grown counterparts due to being fed nutrients directly through a solution easily absorbed by their roots. Hydroponics is also considered a sustainable farming practice as it doesn’t degrade soil, reduces water usage requirements, and eliminates pesticide needs altogether.
Basic ebb and flow hydroponic systems consist of placing plants in grow beds filled with nutrient solutions from a reservoir below, using submersible pumps to deliver regular floods of the solution to flood them into the grow bed, giving their roots time to absorb it before draining back down into the reservoir again. This process repeats itself daily to give plants access to fresh water and nutrients.
Hydroponics systems range in size and scope from small indoor herb gardens that sit atop a counter to large-scale industrial scale operations that take over warehouses. No matter the scale of a hydroponics operation, growers must understand how best to use light for maximum effectiveness; be it fluorescent lighting, high intensity discharge (HID), LED or other types. They must recognize how light cycles affect plant growth as well as different wavelengths’ impact on it.
Idealy, growers should use lights that emit only those wavelengths needed by a particular plant without emitting other wavelengths that might be detrimental – this process is known as “spectrum control.”
Growers must also ensure the lights they use are at an appropriate distance from their plants, to prevent burning and wilting of the crops. An optimal distance for indoor growers usually falls around 6 inches (15 cm). To maximize efficiency of lighting systems a reflector hood may also be utilized to direct more light towards plants.
